2/119 — The definition of the task
"We have sent you with the truth, as a bringer of good news and a warner. You are not answerable for the companions of the blaze."
| Verse | What it does |
|---|---|
| 118 | The demand: "If only God would speak to us, if only a sign would come to us." |
| 119 | The definition of the task: to bring good news and to warn |
| 120 | The limit of expectation: "they will not be satisfied." |
بَشِير — root ب-ش-ر. The relation of this root to bashara (skin, the surface of the body) was treated at verse 25 of the sūra: good news is news that shows in the face — the skin of one who receives good news changes colour. Bushrā, then, is news that leaves a mark on the person.
نَذِير — root ن-ذ-ر. This root was treated at verse 6 of the sūra and in many sections; I do not repeat it. Its summary: indhār is to give notice of an approaching danger in time; at the centre of the root lies the idea of being "beforehand" (nadhr — a word bound in advance, a vow).
The two words together cover the whole of the work: what is good and what is bad in what lies ahead are both announced. And both are verbs of announcing. In the definition of the task there is no persuading, turning, obtaining a result.
And the order is always the same: good news first, warning after. The Qurʾān rarely sets this pair in the reverse order. The same arrangement was present in the first verses of the sūra too — first the deliverance of those who guard themselves (2/5), then the condition of those who cover over (2/6).
| Reading | Meaning |
|---|---|
| لَا تُسْـَٔلُ (lā tusʾalu) — passive, a declarative sentence | "You will not be held answerable for them" — a statement |
| لَا تَسْـَٔلْ (lā tasʾal) — active, a prohibition | "Do not ask about them" — a command |
Both readings are transmitted. The widespread one is the first, and it fits the context better: the sentence lays down no prohibition; it announces that a burden has been lifted. I do not impose a preference; but it should be recorded that the second reading comes out at the same place — in both, something is taken from the shoulders of the one addressed.
أَصْحَٰبِ ٱلْجَحِيمِ — the word aṣḥāb does not mean "friends" but those who are continually together with something; it is from the root of ṣuḥba. The Qurʾān uses this word insistently for the garden and for the fire: a person is named not as a convict placed there but as the people of that place.
ٱلْجَحِيم — root ج-ح-م: the fierce heat of a fire, the blazing of embers. This root was treated in the discussions of al-Infiṭār and al-Nāziʿāt; I do not repeat it.
What this verse says is repeated at several points in the Qurʾān, and all of them look the same way: "You cannot guide whom you love" (al-Qaṣaṣ 28/56); "You are not one to compel them" (al-Ghāshiya 88/22).
The practical consequence of this is that it changes the language of conduct. A person responsible for the result turns to pressure in order to obtain the result; a person responsible for conveying tells and leaves it. The ruling "there is no compulsion in religion" at verse 256 of the sūra is the natural continuation of this definition of the task.
And this note is completed together with the next verse: at verse 120 it will be said that the other side will not be satisfied. Read together, the two verses yield a measure — neither is their satisfaction the goal, nor is their outcome a burden.